2008 Niagara - inside edge tire wear

[dmyers7]

Come on gang. Do you really think that an axle rated for 3500lbs is really going to fail at 3501lbs of load? 

Yes, the weight police suggest a fea's weight over a rating is over the rating and VERY dangerous. So far they don't have enforcement authority.

Here's more

Rabird, Awesome find and thread; thanks for the post.  That just about sums it up.  Radial Trailer tires it will be. 

Vicmen, don't pay to have your axle replaced, it is just fine.  We all are having the same wear problem.  It is the simple fact that the tires really should have been radials for better load handling characteristics from the get go.  Bias tires just aren't made for these kinds of heavy loads.

EDIT:
Just climbed under mine, and boy, what really where they thinking??  If you read the link that Rabird posted, the one gentleman wrote that his tires where bumping under the fender well.  In looking at mine, there is no way the tires could have bumped, my axle will end up hitting the frame long before that happens and by the way it looks, that may happen more then not.  It is no more then an inch from the frame before touching.  As written, Fleetwood left an extra hole in the front leaf spring bracket that would allow you to lift the trailer by about an inch.  This would give two inches of clearance before an axle strike and lifts the whole trailer by about an inch.  I'll be doing this in the spring before our first trip and in my opinion is better then flipping the axle which jacks the PUP up to high, my2c.

[vicmen]

dmyers7:  I wish you were right, but you're not.  The axle has no curvature and it seems to "bend" at the spindles which allows the wheels to "lean in" causing the tire wear.

Dexter Axle today agreed to sell me an axle beam with an increased tube size from 2.38" to 3" which will give more capacity in the beam. The beam will use the same spindles, brakes, and tires.  Dexter, very graciously, agreed to a reduced price.  The cost of the beam totals $67.44 plus delivery fee.  Additionally, I will need 3" U-Bolts and tie plates.  This seems to be the best solution.  I'm happy!  Good luck to all.

[dmyers7]

Fair Enough.  No matter, upgrading the axle to a higher capacity for that price is a no brainer.  Good Luck.  If you are going to do it yourself and don't mind,  please post photos of the upgrade process.  I'm sure more of us would be interested in this project also.

[ngatel]

I guess I should "weigh" in here. First off, Fleetwood magically upped the Niagara GVWR in 2007 to 3970 from 3770 for the 2006 models. Same tires, same everything. So ignore any posted capacities.

For those who know me, I am meticulous about my PU. I have several weight tickets and never exceeded the GAW of 3500lbs. And this is not subtracting the weight of the tires and rims, and the axle itself, which should not be included in the calculation.

If you tow your Niagara around max GAW (it is nearly impossible to get much below it), you will wear the tires on the inside. And more likely the street side will wear faster due to the weight of the slide out and all the stuff people store in it. The other thing we cannot measure is how much weight shifts to the axle from the tongue during travel, or is this not a factor?

Changing to radials did not fix my problem, which I expected. Inside tire wear is a mechanical problem, not a tire problem. I replaced the bias tires at 5,000 miles due to wear and the replacement radial tires had the same problem at 5,000 miles.

Most Fleetwood/Coleman dealers (like most other brands) are too incompent to diagnose this kind of problem, even IF they had the equipment to do it. Going to Dexter direct is iffy. The the dealers, manufacturers, and Dexter will turn you into a ping pong ball. I know, because I went through it. So did Geodude with his Starcraft TT. So I just decided to pay for the correct fix myself and be done with it.

My fix was to install a 5200 lb axle. I was tired of counting ounces and transporting stuff in the TV. With the bigger axle I got the largest 15" capacity tire available (this required an over-slung spring installation). We now have over 10,000 miles on these tires and they still look brand new.

This is probably not the answer any Niagara owner is looking for, but it worked well for us. A couple notes... the larger axle required new larger spring perches. Because of this, I had the Dexter dealer do the installation because aligning the perches and axles is a critical factor. And I would rather transfer the installation liability for welding perches to the frame to a company than do it myself. I had to buy 3 new tires and wheels. A New door step and 4 stabilizer. Plus I knew ahead of time that it could be too high for the AC unit to clear the door opening in my garage (which it was), so I factored in the cost of a low profile Carrier unit. Plus the higher hitch and then added an Equalizer and power jack. Cost was over $2,000. Basically 15% of the original purchase price. For me it was worth it. For others, it may not be.

[chipperone1]

   I have just put my trailer up on jackstands and removed the axle in order to go oversprung.

   Speaking of axle capacities, mine has a sticker that gives it a 3500# rating EXCLUDING THE WEIGHT OF WHEELS RIMS AND TIRES.  You can interpret that anyway you want to with regards to trailer weight on the scales.

   The front leaf spring hanger on my trailer has the "extra hole" as well, it is spaced 1 1/4" apart from the other hole which would only give me 5/8" lift on the axle.

   If I was going to replace the axle beam from 2 3/8" to 3" I would also change the leaf springs to a weight rating that matched the new axle, of course this would probably require the spring hangers to be replaced and moved to a new center distance. Not that I'm trying to increase the trailer capacity, since the axle is at max I figure the springs probably are also at the upper end of thier use. Better still would be to replace the whole thing to a 5200# axle just like ngatel did and get better brakes as well.

   After looking at the lousy job of mig welding that was done at the Fleetwood factory, while I am welding the new spring perches on the axle I will also reweld the spring hangers on the trailer frame.